In great news for travelers, today the New Zealand Government announced it would be scrapping the NZ Travel Declaration as of Thursday 20th October which is the last of its remaining Covid travel rules. The NZ Travel Declaration was often viewed as notoriously bureaucratic and time consuming by many and some even questioned its continued relevance for travelers even after the requirement to be fully vaccinated and to test after arrival was dropped last month.
The online form was first introduced in March of this year as New Zealand slowly reopened its border. It enabled the New Zealand Government to collect details of a passenger’s travel history, as well as Covid-19-related health information, including proof of vaccination and pre-departure test results which earlier on were required as part of the application.
Once complete, passengers would have received a Traveler Pass containing a unique QR code which they would need to present to board their flight and to retain whilst in the country.
The scrapping of the travel deceleration system now represents an almost complete return to normal for the way travelers are used to visiting New Zealand pre Covid. New Zealand authorities have however flagged the system as a blueprint for the country’s move away from paper passenger arrival cards to a digital deceleration system by June next year so the concept may very well be here to stay in the long term.
Despite a conservative approach initially to the concept of living with Covid, life in New Zealand is now largely back to pre Covid norms with mask and vaccine mandates only in a very limited amount of scenarios however mandatory 7 day isolation periods remain for any Covid positive diagnosis unlike neighboring Australia.
